Interviewing for any specialized position requires more than just the standard questions like “what are your strengths” and “where do you see yourself in 10 years.” You need to get into detail about each candidate’s skills and abilities with the specific position. How can you make sure you’re properly interviewing electricians for your shipyard? Here are the most important questions you can ask in your next set of interviews for electricians.
What’s your experience in a shipyard setting?
Working as an electrician in a shipyard is a little different than working in other manufacturing or construction environments. If you can, you want to hire someone familiar with the needs in a shipyard.
But that doesn’t mean you should discount anyone without the experience. If their answer demonstrates that they’ve done their homework, they have just the potential you need.
Walk me through your process of troubleshooting an electrical problem.
For this question, it’s not that you need to know exactly how they would troubleshoot, but you want to see the thought process they have behind it. You also want to know they can communicate beyond just simple yes or no answers.
Look for them to share how they solve problems, work with others, and recover from issues they may face in the workplace.
Tell me about the most challenging task you had to perform in your last job.
Here is a chance to see what they decide to talk about. For example, people who complain about previous employers, managers, or coworkers are likely to engage in negative behavior on the job again.
What you want to hear is how they overcame the challenge, whatever it was, to perform at their highest level. You want to hear positive language and an eagerness to develop a resolution.
Have you ever made a mistake on the job? How did you handle it?
You also learn a lot from candidates based on how they recovered from mistakes. Some people just can’t. They retreat like a turtle into their shells and assume there is no way to overcome what they’ve done.
But a strong and qualified employee will be able to learn from their mistakes. You want to know how they overcame it and how they avoided a similar problem again in the future.
Are you looking for qualified electricians for your shipyard? Contact Hutco to see how we can help today.
